


There's A Storm Outside Your Door

by ColebaltBlue



Category: Hornblower (TV), Hornblower - C. S. Forester
Genre: Age Difference, Book canon compliant, Enthusiastic Consent, Fandom Stocking 2018, Lieutenant Hornblower, M/M, Non-Explicit Sexual Content, tv show compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-03
Updated: 2019-01-03
Packaged: 2019-10-03 09:42:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17281667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ColebaltBlue/pseuds/ColebaltBlue
Summary: It began on the Indefatigable, but Horatio Hornblower wasn't quite sure where his admiration and respect for Captain Pellew ended.  But he was willing to follow him anywhere, including into the man's bed.





	There's A Storm Outside Your Door

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SweetSorcery](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SweetSorcery/gifts).



Horatio did not stumble into his position at the Long Rooms by accident. No, his playing there for pay was the result of him stumbling into Captain Pellew as Horatio left the pawn shop without his pea coat the first time he hocked it. Pellew was a fine commander and strategist and highly observant; he took one look at Horatio, ascertained exactly what was happening, and insisted he come to dinner that night. 

"We're short a bachelor! You'll make an even set for cards!" he exclaimed over Horatio's protestations. 

That night, in as clean and neat a naval officer's uniform as Maria could manage, Lieutenant Horatio Hornblower presented himself at Captain Pellew's residence in Portsmouth for a dinner party. It was a fine party, full of young ladies and naval men of good birth. To his surprise, he did make the numbers even that night - twelve at dinner in addition to the Captain and his wife. 

But the real reason behind his invitation was revealed when he was practically dragged to the captain's table by the man himself. The cards were drawn and Pellew and Hornblower determined to be partners and seated opposite. Pellew looked like he was facing a fully loaded French treasure ship with no escort and the wind at his back.

"Finally, I may beat you two," Pellew said confidently to his companions -- Horatio had missed their names in the rush of introductions. "Lieutenant Hornblower here is a fine hand at whist! The finest I had aboard Indefatigable."

"A fine whist player, Pellew? Is that all you can find to compliment the man?" The teasing was good-natured, but Hornblower felt his cheeks heat in shame. He had not thought that Pellew had found fault with his service, but now he wondered.

"Oh ho! Look at you pretending to be so clever, Croft! You know that I only allow the best and brightest aboard my ship. I'll not hear a single negative word about my officers." This was said with an air of superiority, as if the argument over whose officers were finer were an old and tired one between these two. "We'd be here all night talking of nothing else if I spoke of Hornblower's merits as an officer. Oh no, the finest whist player aboard the Indy is high praise indeed."

Now Horatio was glad for the low light of the drawing room that evening as he blushed into his cards at the Captain's praise. The rest of the evening was a blur compared to that high praise and he was thankful he managed to keep his wits about him enough to not embarrass Captain Pellew. He left that evening with strict instructions to leave his direction with the butler and he hoped that meant he would be invited again in the future when the admiral was short a bachelor or in need of a whist partner. For his own selfish reasons, he hoped the invitations would continue as that night he walked home warmer than he had been in months and with a belly full enough he wondered if he'd ever be hungry again.

Captain Pellew wasn't one for large parties, preferring to let the socializing duties of the Pellew family fall to his wife who departed for the family home in the country between the first invitation and the second. Hornblower was pleased that despite the fact that his services as a bachelor were not needed, an invitation to join Pellew was still issued. The second dinner was a much smaller affair with just two guests - the same Captain Croft from the other night and Captain Butchart. Between the food, drink, and easy and familiar company of naval officers, Pellew had encouraged him to stay late that night, far too late. They placed a half-drunk Croft and a completely drunk Butchart into a carriage that night and Pellew turned to eye Horatio up and down. 

"The blue bedroom would suit you, come, have another drink and stay for the night." 

The footman disappeared up the stairs at Pellew's nod, the question decided without Horatio's response. It would have been rude to say no, but he would not have been able to bring himself to say no regardless of how he feared he would embarrass himself as a social guest of Pellew's. So he followed Pellew to his study, a warm and inviting room with a blazing fire, and at Pellew's invitation, seated himself in one of the two chairs set before the hearth. Pellew appeared at his shoulder, standing too near, and Horatio's fingers itched to reach out and feel the soft buckskin breeches that covered the captain's muscular thighs. He didn't, however, and kept his eyes down as he accepted his glass with a quiet murmur of thanks. Pellew paused for a long second before he moved to his own chair and set the bottle on the table next to him.

Horatio could not have recalled the conversation if his life depended on it. He remembered only the dropping level of the amber liquid in the decanter, the warmth of the fire, and the way that Pellew sought to make him at ease. Horatio was drunk, warm and happily drunk, when Pellew hauled him out of the chair, slung Horatio's arm over his shoulder and wrapped his own arm around Horatio's waist. 

"Let's get you to bed," Pellew grunted softly in Hornblower's ear. 

Horatio smiled and blushed and the thought that bubbled to the surface before he shoved it back down and away where it belonged. Pellew was his captain, a captain fond of his lieutenant, a captain who knew of his lieutenant's rotten luck with the unconfirmed promotion -- he may have even known about pay stoppages. Pellew meant nothing more than kindness in the arm that held Horatio tight around the waist, the breath that had whispered over his cheek, and the words that meant exactly what they said and nothing more.

Horatio managed to stay more or less on his feet as Pellew guided him up the unfamiliar stairs and to, presumably, the blue bedroom. They stopped in front of the door. Pellew stood Horatio up straight and patted his cheek. 

"There you are, ring for the footman if you need anything. Sleep well."

Horatio watched him turn and go. He watched him walk slowly and carefully down the hall with the lurching steps of a drunk man, watched Pellew approach what must be his own bedroom door. Pellew turned and looked back at Horatio, then disappeared into his own room.

Horatio let himself into the bedroom - gray in the light of the moon through the windows. The curtains had not been pulled nor a fire lit in the grate, but the bed was turned down and there was a wash basin and pitcher with water on a stand and a small glass of water on a table next to the bed. He stumbled to the bed and drank the water. Long practiced at pulling his own boots off he struggled for only a bit to remove them, despite his drunkeness. Then his coat and waistcoat. He crawled into bed in his breeches and shirt. 

He expected to fall asleep right away, pulled under by the sherry and wine, but memory of Pellew's closeness, of the way his dark eyes had glittered in the candlelight as he watched Horatio, the strong arm wrapped around him, all washed through him and he felt his cock fill painfully fast. He grunted and curled in on himself, shoving a hand down his breeches to wrap his hand around it. 

No amount of tugging or pulling would bring him to completion tonight - he knew that. Despite his body's interest his mind rebelled at the thought of using Pellew in such a way, of corrupting the relationship between captain and lieutenant with such thoughts and actions. He could not do it. He made a half-hearted attempt to think of something else - whores, the kind of woman who he could imagine as his wife, of Bush even, but no, it was not enough. It wasn't what he needed. He fell asleep, hand wrapped tightly around his swollen cock, curtains pulled closed for warmth and privacy, under the warm quilt of Pellew's blue bedroom.

* * *

His first night in the Long Rooms was at Pellew's invitation. Horatio protested the invitation mightily: the Long Rooms were an extravagance he could not afford. Invitation or no, he did not belong there.

"You would do well, Hornblower, to accept," the captain said, sharply. "Peacetime is hard on naval officers, but it's harder on those that do not have a face to put with the name no matter how much former captains recommend them." 

Horatio was properly chastised. He caught the long look Pellew gave him as he stammered that he would be honored to be Pellew's guest.

Pellew must have spoken to the proprietor, because it was after Hornblower's second visit at Pellew's invitation that he was quietly requested to meet with the man in his office. The terms were simple. He would be welcome in the Long Rooms from six until midnight every night and he would receive a meal for his troubles. His winnings would be his own and he would not have to pay a subscription as long as he kept the officers at the card tables. 

Horatio agreed, remembering Pellew's sharp words. He was ashamed to admit he would agree regardless of those words though. The thought of a warm dinner and a warmer place to sit night after night was the deciding factor for him. Maria did her best, but the money her mother collected went into the gin bottle rather than the food at the lodging house. The meat pies were poor on a good day and nearly inedible on a bad. He ate better food at sea most of the time and would've happily traded his morning fare for salt beef and biscuit. And now, he was already a half-crown behind in rent. Food, and a chance to use his skill at the cards to help stretch his meager savings a bit further was not something he could say no to, even if he wanted to. 

He had a feeling Pellew was well aware Horatio would never accept his charity. Even the connections to the Long Rooms was a difficult thing for him to accept, but he appreciated that Pellew made it easy on him, made the choice his, allowed it to be a business arrangement between the proprietor and himself with no interference beyond the introduction. Horatio was already grateful to Pellew for his excellent leadership, fine captaining, and connections for his career, but this simple gesture that Pellew knew and cared for Horatio as a person was something more, something Horatio did not quite know how to name.

* * *

He expected the invitations to Pellew's to cease once the arrangement in the Long Rooms was settled, but a few nights later a scrawled note was sent 'round to Horatio with a request to call on Pellew that evening. 

It was a quiet affair, just the two of them, and they discussed naval business in Pellew's study afterwards over a few games of piquet. There was less sherry this time and Horatio wasn't even drunk when Pellew suggested he once again stay for the night. 

"It's too cold to walk back to your lodgings tonight, I say. And no offense, Hornblower, but my driver is lazy and likely to be cranky if awoken at this hour. The blue room suited you last time?" 

Horatio agreed it had, quite well.

"It's settled then, the blue room is yours and I shall have your company for breakfast." 

Horatio felt something warm and dark pool low in his belly at Pellew's words. He looked at the captain, face in sharp relief from the fire in the hearth and the candles on their table, features dancing and flickering in the light. Pellew looked up at him and his dark eyes caught Horatio's. Horatio could not look away as Pellew kept him pinned with his gaze. Horatio swallowed heavily. 

Pellew rose. "Another drink then?" He asked, his back turned and already pouring. He stepped forward to hand it to Horatio. Their fingers brushed as Horatio reached to take it. Pellew lowered the drink, Horatio's hand still holding it, to the table and set it down carefully.

"I thought as much," he said softly. Horatio was not sure what he had thought or what even Pellew had seen in him - all he knew was whatever it was, he wanted it desperately. Pellew let go of the glass and lifted his hand to Horatio's face, taking his chin gently in his fingers and holding it there. Horatio's mouth parted and his tongue darted out to lick dry lips. His breath was quick and shallow and he watched Pellew's eyes darken dangerously.

"You don't even know how badly you want it, do you?" 

Horatio gave a tiny jerk of his head to indicate he did not. Pellew tipped Horatio's chin back, baring his throat. Horatio let his eyes fall half shut, drunk on the feeling that was spreading into his fingers and toes and making him vibrate with want. He hadn't even felt this way during those two hedonistic days when he and Bush had spent two hundred pounds between them on drink and whores. 

Pellew bent low and kissed his lips, pulling back before Horatio could respond with anything more than a whimper. 

"Have you done this before?" Horatio thought of that room in the whore house, with the girl he had shared with Bush. He thought of what he and Bush had nearly done together, drunk on rum and lust, after she left. He shook his head no. 

Pellew searched his face carefully. "You're not lying," Pellew said softly, when he had found what he was looking for. "Yet you know what I'm asking you. Good. I want you to want this."

Horatio nodded and watched a small smile creep onto Pellew's face. "God you want this, look at you, you can barely breathe with how much you want this."

Pellew's hand moved around to grasp at the pig tail at the back of Horatio's head, pulling his head back further. Horatio's eyes rolled back and his mouth opened fully, breath fast and shallow. Pellew pulled Horatio's head back even further, opening his mouth fully. Horatio felt a thumb brush his lips and he chased it with his tongue. Pellew grunted and Horatio answered with a soft whimper as the thumb slipped inside his mouth. He sucked at it only a moment before it slid back out and wet his lips.

Pellew's hand disappeared from his head; Horatio raised it back up and opened his eyes. Pellew was standing before him, cockstand prominent just in front of his face, barely contained by the placket of Pellew's breaches. Horatio leaned forward, as if he would take it in his mouth, buckskin and all. Pellew caught at his head.

"Oh no, I don't want a quick suck before I send you back to your rooms. That's not with this is, Horatio. I want you laid out on that bed upstairs. I want to have you, all of you. I want you senseless with pleasure as I take mine."

Horatio could only whimper again as he felt the raw need flow through his veins at Pellew's words. He nodded, desperate for Pellew to understand that he wanted this too, that he needed it, that he wanted his cock heavy between his lips, that he wanted to be fucked senseless the way that he had watched Bush fuck that girl until all she could do was shout and shake with pleasure. He wanted to feel Pellew above him, surrounding him, holding him still as he took what he needed from Horatio's body. Pellew inclined his head towards the door of his study and to what lay beyond. Horatio nodded and rose to follow him - wherever that may lead.


End file.
